Agricultural Enterprise and Rural Class Relations

Abstract

Property is far more important in rural stratification than in urban stratification, where occupational position predominates. There is less similarity of the property systems in commercialized agriculture than there is in urban occupational structure. In agricultural production for markets, the main types of property systems are commercialized manorial systems, plantation systems, and ranching systems. Each of these produces a distinctive pattern of class relations, determining the sharpness of differences of legal privileges and style of life, and shaping the distribution of technical culture and political activity.